Rob Calabrese Deserved More Time for UCF

That's all he got to improve on coming off the struggles he went through in his freshman season.

That's all he has to show for his "MVP" spring practice.

George O'Leary ripped Rob Calabrese out of both of the first two games of the season, naming Brett Hodges the starting quarterback for the rest of the 2009 season. Calabrese's line this season? Samford: 3-of-7, 28 yards passing. Southern Miss: 2-of-4, 21 yards passing.

That's not enough time to decide he shouldn't start again in 2009.

Now don't get me wrong, Brett Hodges has looked good in his first two games coming in relief of Calabrese. He has thrown for 287 yards and passed for three touchdowns in two games while only turning the ball over once. He has earned the job.

Calabrese just deserves more time to prove he can play quarterback at the Division I level. O'Leary has said the he plays well in practice and that he can't seem to transfer that to the game. Benching him doesn't solve that.

Hodges is a fifth-year senior. He's in his final season of eligibility for UCF. He's only good for this season.

Calabrese needs the time to learn. He needs the time to learn from his mistakes, not get benched for them.

I understand he turned the ball over multiple times in both games, but not all of them were his fault. One was a botched hand off, the other a muffed reverse play.

It takes a young quarterback time to adjust to an offense, especially when he was missing most of his recieving corp last season, a young offensive line and had a rookie running back. That's a whole lot of change from one season to the next.

In nine games in 2008, Calabrese passed for 664 yards and five touchdowns in his freshman year. He threw seven interceptions, but it's tough as a quarterback to adjust to the Division I level in your first season.

Calabrese needed time. He needs to go through a full season of struggles and successes. He needs experience.

2009 was supposed the be that season.

Eleven pass attempts later, he's riding the bench, even maybe for the rest of his career.

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